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DEC. 31, 1833.]

Removal of the Deposites-Case of Noah Fletcher.

He concluded, therefore, that the gentleman was mis taken in point of fact.

[H. OF R.

been corrected by yourself, as published in the Globe of yester day, and transferred to-day to the columns of the National Intelligencer, the following passage:

"Was not the bank, to all intents and purposes, the bona fide owner of the National Intelligencer, and, in point of fact, was it not the real, if not ostensible and nominal printer to that House?"

Mr. P. said he feared he should fatigue the House, as he knew he had himself, and must therefore close his remarks. We are called on, Mr. Speaker, to decide a question of no ordinary import. The Bank of the United States has set itself up as a great irresponsible rival power of the Government. It assumes to regulate the finances So long as the allegation implied in the question thus put by of the country, and to control the whole policy of Govern-you, in addressing the Chair of the House of Representatives, ment in the regulation of the financial concerns of the one knows is not very nice in its discrimination between truth was confined to the columns of the party press, which every country; it assumes to dictate to the country, in effect, and error, we did not conceive that we were called upon to how its Government shall be administered; and, although make any specific reply to it. As, however, these allegations it has used the public, moneys intrusted to its hands for have made such an impression on your mind as to induce you safe keeping for purposes of political corruption, it to urge them in argument before the elevated and honorable comes here to demand, as a matter of right, that the pub- body of which you are a member, we owe it to you to undelic treasure shall be restored to it. It has wasted the pub-ceive you, and, through you, the public, in the matter in queslic money: it has thrown itself into the arena of politics, tion. The charge having been publicly made, from a source and employed its corporate wealth corruptly to control so respectable, shall be publicly met and answered. elections: it has been a faithless fiscal agent, in paying tion you have publicly put, that the bank is not, either bona We therefore do here explicitly state, in answer to the quesout the public moneys, when demanded for the public fide or mala fide, to any intent or purpose whatsoever, "owner service: it has violated its charter, by delegating to secret of the National Intelligencer." We do therefore, also, further committees powers which of right can only be exercised state, that the bank is neither the real, ostensible, nor nominal by the board of directors; it refused to submit its affairs printer to the House of Representatives, and that no one is to the scrutiny of impartial investigation and truth, under legally entitled to that honor but the undersigned. We do, the heaviest charges of corruption and mal-practices made moreover, further state, that for the latter suggestion, whatever against it, and boldly demands at the hands of the repre-you have been told (as we have no doubt you have) to the consentatives of the people that it be permitted to continue trary, there is not the slightest foundation, nor even the shadow in the use of the public funds. It is a great aristocracy of a pretence. of money, which, in all ages of the world, has allied itself dient servants, With high respect and consideration, we are, sir, your obewith the enemies of liberty. Gentlemen must not deceive GALES & SEATON. themselves; the present is, in substance and in fact, the question of recharter or no recharter. The question is, in fact, whether we shall have the republic without the bank, or the bank without the republic.

It has done more, sir: in its manifesto, officially issued by its board, it has undertaken to lecture the representatives of the people on political economy, and to doctrinate (if I may be permitted to use the term) Congress in regard to the constitutional powers of the different departments of Government. It assumes, with the gentleman from South Carolina, that the President is a tyrant, a usurper; that the Treasury is independent of the Executive; and that he has wantonly removed one Secretary, and appointed another.

Hon. JAMES K. POLK,

House of Representatives.

[Accompanying the above letter, G. & S. furnished Mr. P. also with a statement of the president of the United States Branch Bank at Washington, contradicting and disproving the allegation made in the speech; but it is not thought necessary to insert the statement here.]

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 31.

CASE OF NOAH FLETCHER.
Petitions and memorials being called,

The very fact that it requires any effort to expose its Mr. DAVIS, of Massachusetts, rose and said that he enormities to the universal indignation of a virtuous peo- held in his hand the petition of Noah Fletcher, a native ple, proves it not only to be a vast power, but a danger- citizen of Massachusetts, but at present of the District of ous power in a country which boasts of the purity of its Columbia, and lately a clerk in the service of this House, institutions. It is my deliberate conviction that, if the which stated that he had long been in the service of the power and monopoly of the present bank be continued Government, not, however, in any office of distinction and for another twenty years, it will be the veriest despot emolument, but as a laborer. That he had removed from that ever ruled over any land-a despotism of money, his native State to this District, where he had contracted without responsibility. No man, hereafter, can expect the relations of a husband and a father, and had a family to arrive at the first station in this great republic, without of numerous children dependant upon his exertions. first making terms with the despot. It will control your election of President, of your Senators, and of your Representatives. If such was its power when it stood in the position of an antagonist to the Government, what would it be in the hands of corrupt men, at the head of affairs, whom it would prostitute itself to serve, and whom it could bend to its own purposes?

That all he had been able to save out of the earnings of many years of toil was invested in this city. Mr. D. said further, that he understood the memorialist was in esteem here for his good conduct, being universally held as a man of upright and honorable character. He came to this House to demand redress for what he conceived to be an injury inflicted upon him. He had been removed from After some further remarks, Mr. P. said he trusted in office without previous admonition, and, so far as he knew, God that the country might be saved from a despotism without fault. The petitioner, Mr. D. said, considered such as this; from the blighting influence of this most this House as the sanctuary of the people of the country; corrupt and corrupting institution that ever existed un- the sanctuary, in a peculiar manner, of their liberties and der the sun; an institution whose practices and principles privileges. were alike inimical to the existence of free government.

NOTE.

OFFICE OF THE NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER, January, 8, 1834. SIR: We have read, in a report of the conclusion of your late speech in the House of Representatives, purporting to have

VOL. X.-144

It was here that a free citizen of this republic might flee, and lay hold upon the horns of the altar. Here, to the representatives of the whole nation, he might pour out his grievances, and tell his wrongs; and it was here that he had a right to demand redress. He must be allowed to say that the eyes of the nation were always directed towards this body with peculiar interest, inasmuch

H. OF R.]

Case of Noah Fletcher..

[Dec. 31, 1833.

as they looked to it as the last refuge of liberty. No tion had entered there; whether the despot had come wrong, no violence, no arbitrary despotic use of power, into that House, which either crushed its victim, or mouldshould here be tolerated. And if, said Mr. D., there be ed him to its own will! The memorialist was a man of in the community a Verres, whose arm shall dare to lift the honor and respectability, and he had a right to be heard. Scourge over the helpless, it ought to be safeguard enough Mr. D. regretted that he had been embarrassed by a rigid for any man to say "I am a Roman citizen." Here, Mr. application of a technical rule in a case of this kind; he D. said, was an humble individual, who came to this House, had hoped the House would have indulged him in going not as a Roman, but as an American citizen, who asked, into a somewhat more enlarged view of a subject which, in respectfully but firmly, of this body, the redress of an in- itself, was of fearful moment, and intimately connected jury which he considered himself as having sustained. It with the freedom and safety of the people; but, as a dif was one of the great privileges of an American citizen to ferent course had been pursued, he should resume his think and act, so long as he acted within the law, accord-seat, after he had sent to the Chair a resolution which be ing to his own judgment and understanding. This, said wished to offer. In the meanwhile, he asked for the he, is the great prerogative we all claim-it is the great at-reading of the memorial. It was read accordingly, as tribute of a freeman, and the characteristic of liberty itself. follows:

It belongs to our freedom that each man shall be per- To the honorable House of Representatives of the United mitted to utter his sentiments without restraint, according States: The memorial and representation of Noah Fletchto the dictates of his conscience and understanding; and er, late an assistant clerk in the Clerk's Office of said whenever this is impugned, it is the duty of this House to House; respectfully showeth: interpose, and exert its guardian power. It is for this body to preserve the citizens of this country from being brought under subjection to any power or authority that may rise up and seek to domineer. Under a conviction of this truth, the petitioner comes here and asks of us redress; and, give me leave to say, that no oppression, no abuse of power, should ever be tolerated within these walls.

Mr. CLAY here called Mr. DAVIS to order, insisting that he was violating the 45th rule of the House, which directs that when a member presented a petition, he should only briefly state what it contained. The gentleman, on the contrary, was going on to deliver his views as to what were the liberties of the people, and into an argument on the merits of the petitioner.

The CHAIR said the gentleman from Massachusetts was certainly out of order, and must confine his remarks to a statement of what the memorial contained.

That in the year 1819, your memorialist was appointed by Thomas Dougherty, then Clerk of the House, as an assistant pro tempore, and that afterwards he was recog nised by a resolution of said House, and directed to be continued in service; since which time, until Friday last, your memorialist has continued to discharge his duty with assiduity, and according to the best of his abilities, to the satisfaction of the late Clerk, and, so far as known, to the satisfaction of the members of the House.

That, on Friday last, your memorialist was dismissed from the services of the House by the present Clerk, without any reasons assigned, and, as he alleges, without any good cause, and another person appointed in his place.

That your memorialist considers this proceeding as oppressive, contrary to the good feelings of the House of Representatives, and against the true spirit of the Government under which we live.

Your memorialist, therefore, feels it his duty to make this communication to the House, and claims its interposition. NOAH FLETCHER.

Mr. DAVIS then sent to the Chair the following resolution:

Mr. DAVIS replied, that it was far from being his intention to excite the feelings of gentlemen, far less of the learned gentleman from Alabama, by any remarks he had made. He thought that the ordinary indulgence of the House would permit him to explain the object of the memorial, and the reasons why it ought to be received. So far as his information extended, the course which had office of assistant clerk in this House without any suffiResoived, That Noah Fletcher was removed from his been pursued toward this individual was without a pre-cient cause, and ought to be inmediately reinstated. cedent. It was so stated, and it seemed to him proper that the House should inquire into the case; that the The CHAIR said it was not in order for the gentleman memorial should be entertained, and that the House to move a resolution at this time, unless by the unanishould inquire who it was that had been guilty of this mous consent of the House

The CHAIR replied in the affirmative.

offensive exercise of power. The memorial stated that Mr. DAVIS inquired whether he could not offer it as a it had been done by an officer of the House-by an indi-motion, in connexion with the memorial? vidual who but a few days since had been elevated by the voice of that body to the place he held. Mr. D. held that, as such, he was accountable to the authority that had appointed him.

The SPEAKER here interposed, and again reminded

Mr. D. that he was not in order.

Mr. CLAY insisted that any motion accompanying the petition must be of the ordinary character-for the refer ence of the paper to a committee, or to give it some other disposition.

The SPEAKER consulted the rule, and decided that the motion of Mr. DAVIS was in order.

Mr. CLAY then inquired whether it must not be laid on the table for a day?

The CHAIR replied in the affirmative, provided any gentleman desired it.

order to refer the memorial to a select committee?
Mr. PATTON inquired whether it would not be in

Mr. DAVIS said he should not proceed farther, if that was the opinion of the Chair. He had only been giving a reason why this memorial should be entertained by the House, and why the House should act upon the subject to which it referred, and inquire for what reason power had so been exercised. The memorialist, he said, went on to state that he had been removed without cause. It had not been said that he was unfaithful, or uncourteous The CHAIR replied in the affirmative; but no motion towards the House in the discharge of his official duty; to that effect being made, the motion or resolution of on the other hand, it was admitted that he had been fered by Mr. DAVIS was laid on the table until to-morrow. always respectful and modest in his behavior. He had IMPROVEMENT OF TAUNTON RIVER, (MASS.) rarely been seen within that hall. He had been removed,

it seemed manifest, by the exercise of power alone, and Mr. BAYLIES presented a memorial praying for the therefore it became proper to ask why this had been removal of the obstructions in Great Taunton river, in done; to ask whether the spirit of favoritism had been ex- that State, and moved its reference to the Committee on ercised within those walls; whether the spirit of proscrip- Commerce.

JAN. 2, 3, 1834.]

Public Improvements--Case of Noah Fletcher--Sinking Fund.

Mr. MERCER (chairman of the Committee on Roads] and Canals) said that he should be faithless to the duty he owed to that committee, if he did not endeavor to stop the course of referring petitions of this nature to the Committee on Commerce. He then referred to the effect which had, in a certain degree, proceeded, and must inevitably proceed, from such a practice. All improvements situated on the seaboard thus gained an easy and certain passage through the House; while all those connected with the great interior were resisted, and denounced as unconstitutional.

On this question a desultory debate occurred, which occupied the House about an hour, and in which Messrs. MERCER, BAYLIES, SUTHERLAND, WHITTLESEY, of Ohio, REED, WARD WELL, FOOT, HALL, of North Carolina, WAYNE, and SELDEN, took part. The particulars of this debate were not reported, as being of interest chiefly within the House. Precedents were cited, and the former practice of the House largely referred to. But the only question of any moment was, whether harbors were not as much within the purview of the Committee on Roads and Canals as rivers.

The memorial was finally sent to the Committee on Roads and Canals, by a vote of 76 to 65. IMPROVEMENTS OF SANDY CREEK, &c. ON LAKE ONTARIO.

Mr. WARDWELL presented a memorial praying for the construction of a harbor and the erection of light houses at the mouth of Sandy creek and Salmon river, on Lake Ontario.

On this memorial, the debate was revived with additional spirit, being continued by Messrs. MERCER, SUTHERLAND, WARDWELL, GORHAM, STEW. ART, VINTON, BOULDIN, and EVERETT, of Ver

mont.

Mr. WARDWELL moved that the memorial go to the Committee on Commerce.

Mr. MERCER moved that so much only as related to light-houses go to that committee, and the residue to the Committee on Roads and Canals.

It was finally decided in favor of the reference to the Committee on Commerce, by yeas and nays, as follows: Yeas 105-nays 97.

After the ordinary routine of the reception of memorials and reports of committees, the House adjourned, on motion of Mr. THOMAS, of Louisiana, to Thursday

next.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 2, 1834.

CASE OF NOAH FLETCHER.

[H. OF R.

Mr. DAVIS said he should not question the decision of the Chair.

Mr. WILLIAMS appealed, contending that the rule which required the motion to lie for one day authorized the consideration of it after that time, though it might not have been presented within the thirty days.

The appeal was discussed by Messrs. WILLIAMS, CLAY and MERCER, and the decision of the Chair was vindicated by the SPEAKER, when Mr. WILLIAMS finally withdrew his appeal, and the decision of the Speaker was acquiesced in. So the consideration of the memorial lies over till Monday, (the next petition day.)

THE DEPOSITE QUESTION.

Mr. POLK then resumed the floor, and continued and concluded the speech he commenced on Monday last, as given entire in the proceedings of that day.

When Mr. P. had concluded his remarks, at about 3 o'clock,

Mr. BINNEY obtained the floor; but, on motion,
The House adjourned.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 3.
SINKING FUND.

After disposing of some minor businessMr. SELDEN'S resolution, which is in the following words, coming up as the unfinished business, viz: Resolved, That the Committee of Ways and Means be instructed to report a bill, requiring the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund forthwith to purchase, or otherwise redeem, the five per cent. stocks of the United States, and directing the Secretary of the Treasury, from time to time, to place under the control of said commissioners such funds not otherwise required for the purpose of the Government as shall be necessary for that object, and, in case of deficiency, to sell so much of the stock of the Bank of the United States, belonging to the Government, as will enable them to complete the purchase.

Mr. SELDEN addressed the House, observing that he understood that, on a previous day, when this resolution came up unexpectedly, a colleague of his [Mr. CAMBRELENG] had expressed a supposition that he (Mr. S.) had introduced such a resolution into the House without understanding what was the existing state of the law on the subject. It would, at least, have been kind in his colleague to have spoken with him privately, instead of presenting him before the House in such a light; but he believed that he did understand what was the state of the law, and thought he could show that the resolution he had presented was necessary, and ought to be adopted.

The journal of the last day's sitting having been read-The law, as it originally stood, authorized the CommisA question of order was proposed by Mr. EVERETT, of Massachusetts, on the propriety of discussing the letter from the Secretary of the Treasury in the hour appropriated to resolutions.

Mr. DAVIS, of Massachusetts, asked if the memorial of Noah Fletcher, presented by him on Tuesday, did not come up as the unfinished business.

sioners of the Sinking Fund to purchase the public stocks whenever they could be redeemed at certain specified prices. In 1830 the law was changed, and the commissioners were amply authorized to purchase any of the outstanding stock of the Government, but not rendering it imperative upon them to do it. What was now the state of the funds of the Government, as reported by the SecThe SPEAKER remarked, that, if petitions were in retary of the Treasury? The balance in hand, after payorder this day, the memorial presented by the gentleman ing off the four and a half per cents, was, on the 1st of from Massachusetts on Tuesday would now be taken up this month, $9,383,000. After deducting out of this sum for consideration. But, by the rules of the House, peti- all outstanding appropriations, and the funds not now tions and memorials, after the first thirty days of the ses- available, there remained liable to be applied to the paysion, could only be presented on the first day of the meet-ment of the public debt over four millions of dollars, ing of the House in each week; consequently, as this was the thirty-second day of the session, petitions could not be received or considered until Monday, on which day this memorial, as the unfinished business in its class, will come up for consideration by the House.

This had been the practice of the House, the SPEAKER said, since the adoption of the rule on the subject.

which might be employed in paying off the public debt of the country. This balance remains, after deducting out of the public funds a sufficient amount to pay off all the four and a half per cent. stocks. The five per cents alone remain of the public debt. He asked gentlemen whether it was useful or expedient to leave the public money longer in the deposite banks, to be a subject of

2295

H. OF R.]

Sinking Fund.

[JAN. 3, 1834

contest between the local banks and the Bank of the [viduals, and which the banks now reluctantly loan in conUnited States, when it might be applied to pay the pub- sequence of the unsettled question relative to the public lic debt? But, if the funds on hand should not be suf- deposites. ficient fully to discharge the debt, the Government had property on hand which would supply any deficiency. The resolution was so drawn as to meet and cover both branches of the case: it provided, if there should not be funds in the treasury sufficient to pay off the whole amount of the debt, that so much of the stock of the United States Bank as belonged to the Government should be disposed of for that purpose as would supply the deficiency. How much of this stock it would be necessary to sell, he was not able to say, nor was it material to know.

Even if a law should raise the price to one, or even two or three per cent. above par, it would still be better to make this use of the money than to leave it in the deposite banks, where it was drawing no interest, and perhaps unsafe; and, as a whole, not passing into currency. Pursue this suggestion-the effect of paying off the five per cents upon the state of the money market: probably most of that stock was in the hands of American holders; and the result would be, to put nearly the whole amount thus applied into circulation, for the benefit of commerce. It might be said that a portion of this stock was owned In connexion with this subject, he would further state abroad, and therefore the money would go out of the that the resolution did not go to clothe the commissioners country. But such would not be the result; its only effect with any new power, but only to direct them to exercise would be to induce the foreign stockholder to reinvest the power they already possessed. That a provision di- his funds in American securities of other descriptions. recting, not authorizing, the purchase of the public stock Not to apply our surplus funds to the redemption of our was necessary, he would refer to a statement in the annual debt, would be to create a doubt in the foreign market report of the Secretary of the Treasury. It appeared as to the discreet management of American stocks, and that the four and a half per cent. stocks were redeema- as to the diligence and vigilance of our Government in ble on the 1st of January, 1834, giving six months' notice. redeeming the public securities when in its power. The But the officer of the Government, instead of having money would not be withdrawn from the country, but given this notice on the 1st of July last, postponed it, so only reinvested. The final result would, in practice, be, that the redemption of the stock could only now be com- to put four millions of dollars, being the amount of this pleted on the 1st of May next: whereas, if notice had stock, into circulation, not liable to be withdrawn, and to been given on the 1st of July last, the stock would have pay off the very last cent of our national debt. But if we It was should not have money enough to pay off the whole debt, been redeemable on the 1st of January instant. certainly time for the House to act in the case, and not we had more than sufficient vested in stock of the United only permit, but require, the payment of the public debt, States Bank to supply the balance, which could now be Had sold at a price quite as high as it could be expected to be when the country possessed the means to pay it. the notice been given as he had suggested, the country at any future period. The Government would be better would not have been exposed to pay the interest on the off--the country would be benefited to the same extent; four and a half per cent. stock which remains unredeem- and no injury would be done in any direction. Ought, ed; and the whole might have remained unredeemed, in then, a subject like this to be submitted to the Committee consequence of the unnecessary delay in giving notice, of Ways and Means without any compulsory direction as had not the pressure for money induced the holders of the to the reporting of a bill? Surely not. The country had the money, owed the debt, and ought to pay it; and its stock voluntarily to accept the proposal issued. agents ought not merely to be empowered, but directed to pay it.

The only question now was, whether the five per cents could be purchased at a rate that would justify the law? Mr. CAMBRELENG said, in reply, that he trusted he From the returns for the stock market, it appeared that this stock now commands not more than its par value, had never been wanting in kindness to any of his colDuring the last leagues. When he had made the remarks to which the together with the current interest. eighteen months, it had reached one, or even two per gentleman alluded, he had not been aware that the gencent. above par, besides the current interest; but this tleman was not then in his place. Such a vast distance was not uniform. It might be said, as a general statement, intervened between his colleague and himself on this If he had been absent, it was that the stock was now at par, or nearly so; and, such floor, that he was not always acquainted with the movebeing the case, it ought not to remain longer outstanding. ments of that gentleman. Again: This species of property was never liable to not Mr. C.'s fault. He was the last man to sayfany thing in become a subject of speculation; it could not receive the absence of the gentleman to injure his feelings. There that artificial value which was sometimes attached to other was, indeed, some novelty in the proposition the genstock, the income of which is not settled and fixed, but tleman had brought forward: it was novel in two respects. might be enlarged by the successful prosecution of busi- In the first place, it required a committee of the House ness, such as bank stocks, and stocks of that character. to report a bill on a particular subject before the subject. All that the holders of the five per cent. stock can realize had undergone any investigation. And it was novel in is the amount of principal and interest to accrue there- another respect, and one which might possibly startle upon; and, therefore, you can never create a factitious some gentlemen. Hitherto, the Commissioners of the value to this stock, by making the law peremptory, espe- Sinking Fund had employed the surplus revenue to redeem cially as the stock is payable, by its terms, in four years. the public debt at their discretion, as the law empowered It never could rise but a shade above its nominal value. and directed them to do. But here the gentleman came Let him now ask whether a resolution of this character into the House with a proposal to make the purchase imThe Gov-perative; in other words, to compel them to make a purought not to receive the favor of the House' What must be the effect ernment had money in its hands to pay off its debt, and chase of the public debt for the special benefit of the this at a time when the debt could be purchased at a fair holders of the five per cents. value. Such an arrangement and appropriation of money of such an order? Why, if the holders chose to ask a But the gentleman would relieve the public mind from much anxiety as to premium of ten per cent. on their stock, the commissionthe present safety of the public money. Its effect was to ers would be compelled to pay it. He imagined, if the experiment protect and advance the public interest, to pay the public said, Oh, no danger: the stock would never rise more debt, and to remove one of the causes of the commercial than one per cent. distress, by placing under the control of the creditors of should be made, the holders would tell the gentleman a the Government the money which must finally be paid very different story. If the gentleman would amend his them, which they could use in the shape of loans to indi-resolution so as to leave it discretionary with the commis

JAN. 6, 1834.]

Sinking Fund-Case of Noah Fletcher.

[H. OF R.

sioners, Mr. C. would have no objections to vote for it.read, it appeared that this man, before the last war, reBut he doubted greatly if, in its present form, the gen- moved into Canada in affluent circumstances. That, after tleman would get one member of the Committee of Ways the declaration of war, he returned to his native country, and Means, and scarce one of the House, to vote in its and took up arms in her defence. That his family returnfavor. At all events, he must assign some limitation as to ed to this country destitute, and he could bear witness price, to the effect of this resolution. that he was yet poor. That, during the war, he renderHis colleague was certainly very kind to the commer-ed services of a peculiar kind, most hazardous and dancial interest: the gentleman was afraid that the deposite gerous in themselves, and most important to the Governbanks should hold these funds too long, and so wished to ment. He acted as a spy. He had the confidence of his draw it out of their hands, that it might not any longer commanding officer, Colonel Christie, and discharged be loaned to trade. Mr. C. said that he was as anxious this delicate and dangerous trust to his entire satisfaction. as his colleague could be that the public debt should be He was promised by Colonel Christie a handsome reward, paid. But he thought his colleague had not treated the but his premature death had prevented his ever realizing commissioners justly: he had spoken of the Secretary of it. He now asks justice, and only justice, at our hands. the Treasury, but the gentleman must be aware that it But, said Mr. F., it is insisted that, if we give him any was not the Secretary, but the commissioners, who were thing, we shall only allow him the same that was given to responsible for the application of the public funds to the a Canadian volunteer. When we legislate for a whole payment of the public debt. The commissioners were of class of citizens, we must necessarily bring them within no party, exclusively; they were of all parties, and influ- the same rule. It is impossible to make a distinction, enced by no party considerations. Whatever the remarks and graduate the reward according to merit. This man's of his colleague might be worth, he trusted these gentle- case did not come within that general rule. He was not men would not be assailed by him. If his colleague would provided for by that general act, and, as we had to act so modify his resolution as to call on the committee to upon his case individually, it was certainly right to look inquire into the expediency of the measure he proposed, into the merits of the case. These services, then, were Mr. C., as one of that committee, would willingly receive not the ordinary services of a soldier. They required and act upon it. information and qualifications of a peculiar kind, to enable Mr. POLK rose, not to continue, but to terminate the him to perform them; and their performance exposed him discussion, by proposing an amendment to the resolution, to great and imminent danger. Can any man say this which he did as follows: That the Committee of Ways compensation, thus long delayed, was ample? He thought and Means be directed to inquire into the expediency of not; and thought the case fairly distinguishable from that making provision, by law, that the Commissioners of the of an ordinary volunteer.

Sinking Fund be directed to forthwith purchase or other- As to the objection that we were liable to be imposed wise redeem the five per cent. stocks of the United States, and directing the Secretary of the Treasury from time to time to place under the control of said commissioners such funds not otherwise required for the purposes of the Government as shall be necessary for that object, and, in case of deficiency, to sell so much of the stock of the Bank of the United States belonging to the Government as will enable them to complete the purchase.

Mr. SELDEN accepted this amendment as a modification of his resolution.

Mr. LANE obtained the floor, when, the hour having expired, the subject was postponed, and the House proceeded to the consideration of private bills. This being one of the days set apart for their consideration, several of them were then taken up, acted upon, and ordered to be engrossed for a third reading.

Among which, when the bill came up for the relief of Abraham Fobes, which proposed to give him six hundred and forty acres of land, out of any of the unappropriated lands of the United States, for his services and losses in the late war

upon by false testimony at so great a length of time after the occurrence, he admitted that the objection had its weight when you present a case to which it is applicable. But the evidence in this case was not subject to that objection. It had been read, and appeared to have been taken immediately after the transaction; and, unless those written affidavits and certificates have changed, they are as good evidence of the facts now, as they were when taken.

As to the objection of the honorable gentleman from Ohio, that the name of this poor petitioner sounded familiar to him, he said, he hoped that that circumstance would not prejudice the rights of this unfortunate claimant. He doubted not the name was familiar to the honorable gentleman-not for the reason supposed by him, that he had already been compensated; but from the fact that he had long been a petitioner at the bar of that House for the compensation which this bill proposed to give. He could not say positively, but he understood that the petitioner had never yet received any compensation for these services; and he hoped this act of justice would be no longer delayed.

The House then adjourned to Monday.

Mr. FILLMORE, of New York, proposed to amend the bill, so as to permit the claimant to locate it by quarter- The question was then taken, and the amendment lost, 'sections. He said he was induced to offer the pro-and the bill ordered to be engrossed for a third reading. posed amendment at the request of the petitioner, to whom justice had been so long delayed; that his age and circumstances would prevent him from emigrating to and taking possession of this land; and he thought he could dispose of it to better advantage, if he had the priv ilege of locating it in quarter-sections, than if he were required to take the whole in a body.

Objection being made to this motion, after some debate upon it, the motion was negatived.

On the same bill coming into the House, further debate arising upon it—

MONDAY, JANUARY 6.

CASE OF NOAH FLETCHER.

After reading the journal, the SPEAKER stated to the House that the memorial of Noah Fletcher, presented by the gentleman from Massachusetts, [Mr. DAVIS,] was the unfinished business, and should now be taken up, unless the gentleman from Massachusetts should waive for the present its consideration, until the States are called for

Mr. DAVIS replied, that as gentlemen were probably

Mr. FILLMORE said, the petitioner being a constitu-petitions. ent of his, with whom he was well acquainted, he felt it a duty to answer some of the objections which had been impatient to present the memorials they had received from made to the bill for his relief. He regretted that he was not more familiar with the documentary evidence upon which the bill was reported; but, from what had been

their constituents, he would so far give way as not to call up the consideration of the petition until the States should have been called.

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